[Update: Jason Calacanis has issued a correction. See “Update 2” below.]
Jason Calacanis, co-founder of Weblogs, Inc. and owner of Mahalo.com, has just posted an interesting Twitter message on his account: “sad:Just found out AOL is asking Weblogs,Inc. bloggers to blog 4 free.If that is true it is very unfair http://tinyurl.com/freeblogging“. Weblogs, Inc. is one of the most prominent blogging networks throughout the blogosphere, and if this is true, it could be a sign of rough times ahead for blog networks.
I’m sure this story will be developing with time. This could have serious impacts on various blogging networks, their employees, and questioning how much bloggers are truly worth. I’ll update this article if any additional news is released.
[Update 1: I should add that our sister site BlogHerald reported that Weblogs, Inc. blogers are only paid around $4 per post around 3 years ago. That is already a fairly low rate, and I’m thinking that Jason Calacanis is right.]
[Update 2: Jason Calacanis has made a correction and has informed me that it is the bloggers themselves, not AOL or Weblogs, Inc., who are blogging for free to try and protect their blogs.]
[Update 3: TechCrunch has just posted some in-depth coverage of this story.]
6 thoughts on “Breaking: Jason Calacanis States That AOL Is Asking Bloggers To Blog For Free [Updated]”
Gawker is talking about it too
“Volunteer Bloggers: Stop Subsidizing the Entire Internet”
http://gawker.com/5030445/volunteer-bloggers-stop-subsidizing-the-entire-internet
There is a potpourri of hearsay in the comments, make sure you read them. If your one of those free writers… please contact me.
You are probably right.
Maybe the blogger should develop their own brands, and sell them later….Less overhead and eventually less worries.
Hey Jason,
Might want to double check what you write on Twitter. You should probably make that known on Twitter as well. Will make the corrections immediately..
That, however, is still disappointing to hear. Why doesn’t Weblogs, Inc. and AOL make a better effort to help those struggling bloggers? Perhaps those blogs were just doomed from the time they were acquired? Hopefully you can get on This Week in Tech and discuss this in detail. I’d be interested in the facts.
Anyways, thanks for the update.
AOL didn’t ask them to blog for free… the bloggers did it on their own to try and protect the blogs!
you should def. correct the headline there.
best j
Pretty sad when a well-known blogging networks can no longer pay their bloggers. It isn’t good news, and it really is sad if this is true.
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